Curry Up Now heading to San Ramon
Naughty Naan, anyone? The Indian street-food specialists with the cheekily named menu items are expanding yet again.
Curry Up Now will open its seventh Bay Area restaurant in the City Center at Bishop Ranch shopping center now under construction in San Ramon. An opening by year’s end is forecast.
This location will feature the chain’s third Mortar & Pestle Bar, with libations spiced up — think garam masala — to partner with the dishes.
Owners Rana and Akash Kapoor started with a food truck in 2009, then built their first brick-and-mortar location in downtown San Mateo in 2011. There are now other wheels free locations in Palo Alto, San Jose, Oakland, Alameda and San Francisco.
Menu faves include Itsy Bitsy Naan Bits with tikka masala dip; Naughty Naan topped with lamb, cheese, onions and jalapeños; Deconstructed Samosas; and Sexy Fries, crosscut sweet potato fries smothered with paneer or pork belly — an Indian take on poutine, if you will.
DETAILS >> www.curryupnow.com
Philz Coffee is coming to Campbell
Philz Coffee, a third-wave java specialist with a cult following, is heading to Campbell’s South Bascom Avenue.
The Bay Area company has leased the former Baja Fresh building across from the Pruneyard center — and it comes with a large parking lot as well as a VTA bus stop out front.
The expansion comes 14 years after entrepreneur Phil Jaber launched his first San Francisco shop in 2003, decades after Jaber started experimenting with blending beans for the perfect cup.
An opening by year’s end is forecast.
DETAILS >> 1976 S. Bascom Ave., Campbell; www.philzcoffee.com
Contra Costa gets its first Sonic Drive-In
The carhops are rolling, and customers are packing the place for chili dogs, burgers, tots, limeade and slushes.
Sonic Drive-In, founded in Oklahoma in 1953, may have more than 3,500 restaurants in the United States, but the company is just getting around to Contra Costa County.
The county’s first has opened in Pittsburg at 1600 N. Park Road near Loveridge Road.
The fast-food chain’s culture harkens back to the 1950s. Carhops, some on roller skates, deliver food orders directly to patrons’ cars. And the name Sonic refers to the company’s original slogan, “Service with the Speed of Sound.”
Specials abound at Sonic. Every Tuesday night is half-price cheeseburger night, and the Carhop Classic offers a burger (quarter pound double cheeseburger or Classic Signature Slinger) plus medium tots for $2.99. For a limited time, customers who order ahead with the Sonic app will get halfprice drinks and slushes all day long.
DETAILS >> www.sonicdrivein.com.